Punishing Marcus
by LightningMistress2113
Summary: He had been asking for it. That was Susan Ivanova's excuse for what she did. The captain didn't quite agree with her when he became her unwilling victim.


I will warn you – this will probably be a _very_ long author's note. If you don't want to read it, feel free to skip it and just begin the actual story.

First off. Major, major apologizes. I haven't been able to write in a long time. At first it was because of working a twelve hour graveyard shift three sometime four to five days a week. Then it became I had no drive, no inspiration to work on _any_ of my stories (whether fanfics or novels). Next it was because of starting a new job just a month and a half ago. Finally, I think it mostly fell on me being lazy – which I most sincerely apologize for. I had never wanted to become one of those authors that take forever to update a story – and I'm talking about anywhere between six months to a year and beyond. Yet I seems like I'm doing it anyway.

So. On a side note. Quick update on my stories (which you can just read off my profile as well too).

Twice in a Lifetime – the epilogue is coming; don't worry on that account. As kind of a thank you for waiting so long, here's a spoiler – I actually have planned two epilogue chapters.

Hired Killers – this is just the redone/revamped version of Hell's Wings for anyone who doesn't know yet. I've spent a lot more time on the actual character backgrounds and plotline so hopefully I'll be more satisfied with it now.

Mine – The next – or third chapter – is 97% done. I just need to tie up a few loose ends with it and it'll be ready. The fourth chapter is completely planned out and – I think – about halfway written. The fifth chapter is mostly planned out with only the very beginning actually written. You probably didn't need to know _that_ much detail but I felt you guys deserved it after waiting so long already (nearly a year! Gah!)

Shadowblade – the prologue will be thrown out the window I think. I do have some, if not most of the overall plotline, already planned out. Though I think this one will take the back burner for a little while as I try to finish up some on my current and ongoing fics.

And just a head's up – since I have rediscovered the awesomeness of Babylon 5 (if you haven't watched it, then you really, really need to, especially up to the end of season 4 at least) just recently, my muse had decided to rebel against the strict order of only concentrating on current fics and produced a total of three complete fics – only one-shots though unfortunately. One of them is this one and I will upload the other two here soon.

Anyways. Really sorry about the _super_ long author's note. I am now trying to avoid any and all long a/n's at the beginning of a chapter but this one is a special case.

Please read and review! I would like to know if anybody else thought Sheridan's appearance was as funny as I did!

 _Disclaimer_ – Me no way can ever own something as great and magical as Babylon 5. It is not mine…except for any plot bunnies that like to pick on Marcus.

 **Punishing Marcus** – He had been asking for it. That was Susan Ivanova's excuse for what she did. The captain didn't quite agree with her when he became her unwilling victim.

….

"Would you like to explain this to me?"

Commander Susan Ivanova immediately clamped down on the hysterical laughter threatening to burst out when her eyes landed on a very disgruntled captain of Babylon 5 as he hobbled through the door to her quarters really early one morning. She had been rudely woken up from a nicely satisfying dream of punting a rather annoying Ranger aboard a cruiser bound for any place away from the huge station. The bubbling mirth proved to be harder to stifle than she previously expected, as was evident by the very loud, very unladylike snort of air at the utterly ridiculous sight Sheridan presented. Her gaze became apologetic, shoulders beginning to shake from the straining effort of holding back the strong urge to laugh, an arm wrapping around her torso.

The captain crossed his arms in front of him, frowning at his second in command, before letting loose a long suffering sigh and running a hand through his unnaturally spiked locks.

"Alright," he told her in a resigned tone of voice, like this end couldn't have been avoided. "Go ahead. Laugh."

Susan lasted only half a second more then gave into the stomach hurting reaction. He kept his frown the entire time the Russian laughed, knowing he wouldn't get any much needed answers out of her until the woman let it all out. Personally, he found nothing about his appearance funny. Even so, he had made sure no one else had seen him like this on his march over to Ivanova's quarters. A sinking feeling in his gut told him Garibaldi would more than likely never let him live this unfortunate incident down.

Sheridan wondered if he should finally use that embarrassing blackmail he'd been carefully saving on Michael to ensure the sneaky man wouldn't get any weird notions.

The Russian hiccupped a couple of times. "I-can't," she eventually choked out, tears forming. "I-can't- _breathe_ ,"

John grew impatient as time wore on and she still hadn't stopped. Finally, he had enough. She was going to give him answers and she was going to give him answers _right now_.

"Well?" He snapped. Ivanova straightened from her hunched over position and schooled her expression back to a neutral one with long practiced ease.

"Well, what?"

His eyebrows furrowed. "Explain this to me." He waved at what he was wearing. She nearly snorted again. The picture was just too funny for her to _not_ laugh at it.

"I think," she started but had to pause to clear her throat when her voice came out a little strangled. "I think that was meant for someone else."

The captain exhaled in frustration. "I did arrive to that conclusion."

"Then why are you asking me?"

He pulled out a square piece of paper with an 'I' on the top and waved it around with a _really?_ look. Susan paled at the sight; it looked like she had indeed gotten the wrong person last night.

Opps.

"I can explain…" she began cautiously, holding up her hands in surrender. John took a step toward her, face hard. "He had been asking for it." It was an excuse, a poor one actually, but it was the only defense she had. Hopefully it would save her favorite sleepwear from the same miserable treatment she had executed upon his.

"Susan…" The captain growled, slowly reaching out to her. She squeaked in surprise, suddenly knowing without a doubt that it was a VERY bad idea if Sheridan caught her, and hastily sidestepped the man. She immediately made a beeline for the opened door to her quarters.

Ivanova was going to hunt down that annoying Ranger and give him a through tongue lashing for _not_ being where she had expected him to be and causing an irate captain to chase her.

Perhaps it was a good thing it was still very early aboard the station?

….

When Michael Garibaldi walked into security that day, he did not expect to find half of his team crowding around a single security monitor. He frowned at the sight; what was going on? And where was Zack?

"Chief!" He turned toward the direction the call came from. His eyebrows shot up to his hairline at a tied up Zack Allen. This just kept getting better and better.

"Alright team!"Michael's loud voice cut above all the muttering, effectively silencing them. Zack gave him a grateful smile. "Whatever you're doing I want in." He grinned at his second in command. Zack narrowed his eyes, a frown replacing his earlier smile.

Garibaldi moved closer to the screen half of his team hid from view. They parted to let him through, all sporting knowing grins. He choked on air once the monitor became visible. The first thing he did after regaining his breath was to order his men to _never_ tell either the captain, commander, or Ranger what they witnessed today. Then he smirked.

"So, what are the current running bets?"

The security screen flickered as it continued to display a panicked Marcus being chased by a vengeful Ivanova who was in turn being chased by an irate green haired, pink bathrobe and purple bunny slippers clad captain through a strangely empty sector.

….

Hope everyone had a good holiday!

Lightning Mistress


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